Lunch in Amsterdam

Can somebody please confirm that while we have been away, the following product has arrived and is available in Canadian stores within the GTA. What about this one?

Since neither of us can read much while in vehicles, we've been listening to a podcast series broadcast by BBC 4. It's called "A History of the World in 100 Objects". The head of the British Museum has taken 100 objects from this museum and done an excellent series about the evolution of human history and society based around them. There are interviews with artists, cooks, historians and all sorts of people, and each segment is about 15 minutes long. They are almost done the series, object #100 will be unveiled on October 22nd. There is a big mysterious box in the middle of the grand room of the library. We know this, because we were so inspired by this series (ok, we just really wanted to be in an English speaking country again, read an English newspaper, order food our food in English) that we are now in London again. And loving it! And will be here for a week. Co-incedently so is the Pope, which scuppered our plans to go to evensong at Westminster Abbey tonig

After Venice, we headed to the other side of the Mediterranian, and spent a weekend in Barcelona. Palm trees, sand, sea and lots of Gaudi architecture. Unfortunately we fell down on the picture taking here. Actually we haven't taken a picture for the last week....you'll have to use your imagination!

We finally brought ourselves to leave lovely Ljubljana and hopped on a bus that brought us to Venice. As we were wandering around lost, looking for our hotel, we noticed that a lot of people were wanding around barefoot and carrying their shoes. Turns out that it rained heavily that morning and St. Mark's square (and a few other lower lying places) were flooded. We tried to take a drier route to the hotel (now armed with a map), but still ended up a little soggy. Venice is great. It was warm and sunny while we were there (but the square still flooded the next day and we thought we were trapped inside the Doge's Palace for a while!). What can we say - canals, gondolas, bridges and boats. We did enjoy riding the "bus" around - the Vaparetto boats that sail up and down the Grand Canal. Strangely we felt right at home, especially at this table... Oh, here's one last photo from Ljubljana.

We were supposed to leave Ljubljana 2 days ago. We love it so much, we scrapped our plans and have stayed on. We `ll be here until Wednesday, then we move on to Venice.

There were over 100 booths representing several countries (we think -the only English sign was the "bubble and squeak" from London, UK). It took an average of 3 people to saute, stir and flip the potatoes and there were thousands of people packed into the street. All samples (read large scoops) of the different types of sauteed potatoes were free, and Beth bravely stood with bowl in hand to receive a sample from the many different chefs. Please note - this is not a potato festival. It is the 10th annual Sauteed Potato festival, aimed at having sauted potato and onion be recognized as a separate and traditional dish. Sauteed potatoes to the people! Katherine ate just as many potatoes as Beth, she was just the one holding the camera.

We were grateful for the English listing alonside the Slovenian. We had to buy something out of it. It was delicious.

Next week is the world white-water Kayak and Canoe championships. All over the city are these funky Kayaks - suspended above bridges, in front of churches and inside city hall. These are only a few of them. We also saw a shoe, a fountain pen (in front of the 3 Rivers Fountain, of course), an eyeball, and many, many colourfully decorated ones. Blending sport and art. While we were taking a little river cruise, we were suddenly surrounded by 50 children between the ages of 6 and about 14, who were competing in their own championship race.

This is the place we are most in danger of not ever leaving. It`s the perfect blend of recreation, art, effeciency, but with a value for leisure time used well. Over the centuries, Slovenia was occupied by both Italians and Austrians and have managed to embrace the best of both cultures, while maintaining their own identity. The city is beautiful, and beautifully laid out. There are blocks and blocks of pedestrian (and bicycle) zones in the old city core. The locals used the entire space -so we don`t feel like we`re in an artificial "tourist zone". In the main square we saw a nuit-blanche type dance performance Friday night. On Saturday morning, the same square was filled with toddler-sized tables and chairs, with little ones colouring while parents sipped coffees, and the same stage was playing toddler TV shows. The river bank is lined with trees that shelter the blocks and blocks of cafes where everyone sits and lingers over coffee, tea, drinks and conversation. Here

We decided to take the train from Split (Croatia) to Ljubljana (Slovenia). The trip from Split to Zagreb was pretty and pretty uneventful. Unlike most trains we`ve expereniced that travel along valleys, this route went over the mountains! We were so high up and the views were stunning. The train was a "tilting" train - the tracks were banked into the ground and the train could sway back and forth in order go faster. Of course it also makes for more motion sickness, so we were glad for an hour break in Zagreb. Slovenia is in the foot of the Alps, so we were looking forward to the scenery for the next leg. Then we experienced the border crossing. Slovenia is part of the European Union. Croatia is not. There was about a 40 minute delay on the Croatian side of the border while the guards checked all our passports, some passengers` luggage and escorted at least one person they didn`t want leaving the country off the train. It was a little eye-opening for us, but we were settl

Once upon a time, Roman Emperor Diocletian built a retirement palace in his native land of Croatia. He lived there for 6 years, martryed 2 bishops, excecuted a bunch of Christians, declared himself a god (Jovius, son of Jupiter) and then committed suicide. 300 years later, when the barbarians were attacking, the people moved into that palace. It was so big, the entire town could fit inside - over 300 buildings inside the palace walls. The temples and mosoleum of the mighty emperor became Christian churches. Where the family promanaded, there are shops, restaurants, cafes and laundry hung to dry. The Bishop of Nim - who had sermons preached in Croatian instead of Latin. We spent 3 days in Split - these cafes face the stunningly blue Adriatic, and we could watch the people stroll and the ferries move in and out of port. We stayed in a little studio right above one of the main squares. Because we had a full kitchen, we could shop for food at the amazing farmer`s market that happens